


Needed

by Spacefille



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post Game, Cultural Differences, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Other, Pale Romance | Moirallegiance, Past Rape/Non-con, Past Torture, Red Romance, Troll Psychology, literal healing cock
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-17
Updated: 2013-03-24
Packaged: 2017-12-05 15:54:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/725088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spacefille/pseuds/Spacefille
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two months ago Karkat disappeared. Now that he’s been found he’s damaged enough that he needs a guardian, and the only person he’s asked for is Dave.<br/>.<br/>Dave’s been living with Dirk since the game decided to spit them back out onto this brand new world full of humans and trolls. Now he suddenly finds himself in charge of their new silent house guest, a troll that used to be one of his best bros before the game ended.<br/>.<br/>Dirk just wants a sparring partner.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

.

You don’t know what to expect, only that they called you and asked if you wanted to take custody of a troll that seemed to know you. They didn’t give you very many details, only that he apparently knew you by name and asked for you to be his guardian. Since you know exactly one troll that is male and would ask for you, you tell them you’ll come.

You didn’t expect to have to go to a police station to do it. You also don’t expect to be pulled aside by two stern looking officers and brought into another room with man in a suit and tie and a young female troll in dressed in olive green. She’s interesting, and your eyes tick to her. Olive green means she’s a mid-low blood, the trolls on this world like to dress in their colors, it reminds them of their hemospectrum, which you think is crap. This world is a mishmash of both cultures, mostly human to be frank, and no one needs any hemospectrum here.

One of the officers remains behind and sits beside the man in the suit.

You’re beginning to get nervous. You don’t like small places, especially not ones with shut doors and locks and you stand when the officer motions for you to take a seat, your hand gripping the top of the chair. “Where’s Karkat?” you ask bluntly.

Suit man raises an eyebrow and reaches down in his bag in order to retrieve a file folder. “We need to go over the details before handing custody of Mr. Vantas over to you Mr. Strider.”

You consider your options and finally decide to sit. Suit man passes you papers and a pen.

The paperwork is very dry and boring and about what you expect adoption papers would be like. You promise to take care of this person until they are old enough to take care of themselves. “Why do I need to have custody anyway?” you ask. You’re an emancipated adult, something the game had elected to do for you when it decided to spit both you and your Bro out at the same age. You live together in the same place and neither one of you needs an adult. Hell, Dirk is already way beyond that due to raising himself his entire life or some shit like that.

Suit man exchanges looks with the female troll. She finally turns to look at you and answers your question. “He is unable to take care of himself at this time and requires supervision,” she says. “We are unable to locate a lusus who is willing to take him on because he’s a mut-“ she hesitates for a moment, glancing at the human by her side. You can see this is something she struggles with. “His extremely rare blood type,” she corrects herself.

The fact that he needs supervision raises all sorts of alarms in your head. He’s your age, what the hell happened to him exactly?

You’ve kept tabs with everyone, but like regular friendships, they fade away for weeks or even months at a time. It’s been nearly a year since the game now, you can’t expect everyone to remain on the ball. And you’ve been pretty damn busy yourself as you have three years of missed school to make up for. 

If you thought about it, the last time you talked to Karkat was almost two months ago. Sure you noticed he was gone, but you figured he just wanted some space. This world is a hard one to get used to, that’s for sure, what with all the trolls and humans running around. The trolls are still trolls, they do their own thing and live in their own hive stems and have their white skinned animals to guard over them. They’ve adapted to human society surprisingly well besides that, though you have a theory that’s just because they’re used to being in a totalitarian régime and being oppressed. Whatever. Either way, you thought Karkat just needed a break.

Boy, were you ever wrong.

.

You feel the sense of foreboding heighten when they actually make you sign a waiver saying you’re cool with being showed video footage of what happened to Karkat while he was “away”. No one will actually tell you what happened so you’re guessing it’s probably some sort of government secret. Or criminal investigation. The only thing they will say is that he was “picked up by police” in his “current condition.” They also won’t let you see him before seeing the footage to explain to you what to expect.

Okay, so you by that point you think he was captured and tortured or something like that. You don’t actually want to think that, but the waiver does little to convince you otherwise. 

The video is about what you’d expect. It looks like it was filmed on a cellphone or something of the like but even with the less than phenomenal footage you can tell he’s a mess. He’s stark naked as well. He goes down on all fours as they approach him, a low warning growl welling up from his throat. Nothing he can do against a god damned taser, which renders him twitching and unable to fight.

Your jaw clenches as you watch as they force a bag over his head and pin him down limb for limb. You spent three fucking years with trolls, you recognize the high pitched keening he lets out when they finish pinning him, raw and hair raising to anyone who doesn’t know a damn thing about trolls.

He expects to die. Those motherfuckers don’t know it but he expects to die, that’s a wounded sound you’ve only heard once before, when you made the mistake of putting a sword to his throat while he was down after a spar, a desperate sound you’d rather forget. It makes your stomach churn.

It gets worse, the entire thing gets worse, you watch as they poke and prod him, handling him roughly, running gloved hands over his entire body and down to his bulge and nook. You know what a nook looks like ‘cause Terezi has one too, you watch as he jerks compulsively as they push their fingers inside of him. The whimpering sets in, but this time it’s different than his keening, it’s broken up into sharp little bursts of sound. The sound is close enough to human for you to know that it’s fearful, he doesn’t know what’s going on, he’s being violated in the most horrendous way possible, and no one even gives a shit. You’ve already seen far more than you want to and can feel bile rise in the back of your throat. “Turn it off,” you say hoarsely.

The green troll shoots you a curious look, like she can’t understand why you’d ask that, but suit man instantly does what you ask. You stand there for a long moment, collecting yourself.  If Karkat wants to tell you what happened to him he can, watching that shit is too personal. Also you’re really not into the idea of continuing to watch your friend get molested and tortured.

“Do you not want to see the extent of his injuries?” the troll asks. She’s giving you a deeply puzzled look now, like she can’t figure out how humans work but is trying her best.

Fucking trolls.

You shake your head, then think about that for a second. He might be injured in places you’re going to need to know, and seeing as they just had their fingers up his nook, he’d be too embarrassed to tell you. “Are any of the injuries permanent?”

She looks surprised and turns back to the man.

He steps up to the plate like a champ. “They are not,” he says. “We’ve had him in the hospital the last two weeks, but they’ve given him a clean bill of health. He’ll be weaker than he was before this happened, but beyond the near catatonic state he seems to be in most of the time, he is physically well.”

Catatonic…  “Where is he?” you ask. You want to take him home. Your fingers flex into fists at your sides. Yeah, right now that’s about the only thing you want in the whole world.

.

They have you sign a last couple pages of papers and lead you to a room. You can tell instantly that this is an adapted jail cell. There is a sink, toilet and a slab bed coming out of the wall. There is no troll to be seen, until all three of you walk into the room and you see something shift behind the bed. You hold your hand up to the other two to stay put and walk the rest of the way forwards.

He’s curled up into a ball in the corner. You can see he’s wearing a plain orange jumpsuit, the same sort they’d give prisoners. His head is between his legs, but he looks up as you approach. You’re struck by the look in his eyes, wary, like an abused dog that expects to be hit, one step away from a rabid feral animal. At least he’s not spaced out like they said he’d be.

He recognizes you instantly. You can tell because the expression on his face relaxes just a bit, only to return full force as his eyes dart to Ms. Troll and Mr. Suit, (whose names you still haven’t memorized and don’t intend to.) They’ve decided to walk further into the room to see him as well, even though you made a motion for them to hang back. You glare. “Hey,” you snap. “Get back there,” you point to the door.

They look like they’re going to protest for a moment but miraculously troll lady responds first. She touches the man on the shoulder and walks back to the front of the room. He follows after a moment.

You wait until they have retreated before returning your attention to him. You fold your arms across your chest. “So?” you start. “You gonna sit there all day or what?”

You hear a noise of protest from Mr. Suit and ignore it. You know what you’re doing. Sure enough a look comes over his face, it’s confusion, and then the corner of his mouth twitches. He understands you, thank fucking god.

He moves, shifts out of his curled up position and you nod your encouragement. “Come on, let’s get the fuck out of here already,” you say.

He’s silent, in the past he’d have a witty retort for being ordered around but instead he cautiously gets to his feet like every movement is costing him something. He braces his hand on the bed and you can see it is shaking slightly. It’s the only part of him that is shaking, the rest of him is deathly still, and he’s staring at Mr. Suit now. After a moment of being frozen there, you reach out and tap his shoulder.

“Hey man are you –“ he flinches, hugely, stumbling back into the wall. He swings his head back around to pin you with a lethal glare, his teeth bared.

Oh shit. Yeah, touching him might not have been the best thing to do right about now after what he went through.

After a moment of glaring he launches away from the wall and right at you. You expect a face full of claws (his nails look nicely cut down actually so thank god for that) and you take a defensive step back. Instead he goes for your arm, grabbing it with a surprisingly strong grip. Using that as a brace he pulls himself along it until he can loop his arms around your neck. He buries his face into your shoulder.

You stand there completely shocked for a second. “Uh, Karkat?” you ask.

He doesn’t move. You now have a troll pressed up against you, clinging to you tightly. You send a helpless look at the other two. Mr. Suit looks just as confused as you are, but Ms. Troll looks almost relieved.

“Moirallegiance,” she says briskly in response to the look on your face. That doesn’t look like that cleared anything up for Mr. Suit, but it does for you.

“I’m not his moirail, thanks,” you say dryly. “That’s an alien thing.” Yeah, 100% human right here. 

Karkat shifts and clings to you tighter. You grip some of the back of his shirt in a fist and try to yank him away, which does absolutely nothing to move him. Finally you sigh and stop trying to get him off and pat him on the back instead.

You know what this looks like. God damned troll. 

She gives you a skeptical look which grows as she watches you. “He asked for you,” she points out.

“Yeah that’s ‘cause humans have this thing called friendship,” you retort. “Trolls have that too, last time I checked,” you jiggle your shoulder that his head is against, wondering if he’s going to let you go any time soon. “Karkat, seriously man.”

She shrugs and drops it.

You roll your eyes and sigh again. You just want to get out of here and get home with your new housemate. You attempt to move forwards. He comes with you, which makes walking difficult. You stop again. “Karkat, get the hell off me and let me walk.”

You don’t think he’s going to but he finally unravels enough to just be holding your arm with both his hands. The closer to the door you walk and the closer you come to Mr. Suit, the more he melts into your side. It’s a wonder you even get out of there without losing the circulation in your arm.

.


	2. Chapter 2

.

You’re glad he’s let go of your arm when you get to the car, because you really weren’t looking forwards to driving home with a troll in your lap. You go around to the passenger side and open the door for him. He hesitates for half a second before scrambling onto the seat and slouching down on it.

His eyes track you as you make your way to the other side. “Buckle up babe,” you say cheekily as you climb into the driver’s side.

He doesn’t even look at you as he quietly does what you ask.

That strikes you more than the way he reacted back in the station. You’re quiet yourself now as you back out, jaw clenched as you make your way out of the parking lot. Okay, this is going to be a thing. You also notice he hasn’t said a damn thing yet at all. You know he must have the ability to talk if he managed to ask the nice officers for you, but seriously, the silence is unnerving.

“You can speak, right?” you ask once you’ve merged onto the freeway.

He doesn’t reply and you spare a glance at him. He’s staring at his hands which are balled into fists in his lap and you can see that his hands are shaking again.

Oh shit. Right, so uh, torture,  they had him for a few weeks, if they put mortal fear of making noise into him and he’s gonna be as silent as a church mouse. If church mice are even silent, you haven’t really ever been in a church.

You suddenly want to go back to the station and demand to know who did this so you can hunt them the fuck down and kill them. However that’d get you exactly nowhere fast and probably have him taken away from you in the meantime.

“Dude,” you say, as you change lanes. “You know me. And you know Bro,” he’s met Dirk, they got to know each other a bit after the game. Not a whole lot mind, but enough that they’re acquaintances at very least. “You don’t got anything to worry about anymore, you’re safe now.”

Another quick glance and you can see he’s looking at you. The expression on his face is still wary as heck but there’s something there, perhaps gratitude, and it calms you down a little bit. This is the troll that watched his friends die, he survived all that crap and made it through the game with you, he’ll survive this too.

You just wish he’d fucking talk back already, he’s really good at talking, it’s his favorite thing to do. Well, that and throw temper tantrums. You frown slight, your mind returning to what Ms. Troll said about moirails. If he had one of those maybe he’d talk to them, but who, exactly of his old friends would you contact about that? Kanaya? Kanaya might know what to do. You make a mental note to hit her up about this.

Once you’ve gotten Karkat settled, that is.

.

Dirk’s in the livingroom when you walk through the door to your apartment, something that causes Karkat to grab and hang onto your arm with a death grip.

“Hey,” you protest. “It’s just Bro, remember?”  Karkat doesn’t seem to hear you and continues to give Dirk a deeply suspicious look.

The teenaged version of your former brother stands, raises an eyebrow at you from over the top of his shades before turning and silently walking out of the room.

You heave a sigh. Okay, this is going to be a little more difficult than you thought if he’s going to be tense as hell around Dirk. You just hope it will fade in time.

Instead you just tug your arm and bring him into the livingroom with you. You set him down on the couch. The moment you sit down beside him he crawls right into your lap and settles again, head against your shoulder. You stiffen, then sigh and relax, shifting to get comfortable. “Is this going to be an ongoing thing?” you ask him dryly, but he doesn’t reply. Of course he doesn’t. You sit there and try to strategize how to play video games while being forcibly cuddled.

.

Dirk comes back into the livingroom some time later, munching on a sandwich and looking every bit like the guardian you lost. He inspects the two of you silently.

You don’t even bother moving. Karkat is half asleep and he weighs a fair deal besides. “He needs a moirail,” you say. What you mean by that is that he needs a troll moirail.

Dirk half shrugs. “He’s got one,” he replies and with that he turns and leaves the room again.

“I’m not his moirail!” you call out.

You wouldn’t even say Karkat had noticed, until he blinks slowly and shifts in your arms. You get a nose against your neck and he sniffs at you briefly before going back to laying his head against your shoulders.

You’re going to need to get up eventually.

The need to use the washroom wins out over everything. “Okay, get off,” you tell him finally. “I need to piss and you’re sitting on my bladder,” you unceremoniously dump him onto the couch beside you. “Do you think you can handle being alone for a few seconds?”

He gives you a look like you’re developmentally delayed.

It’s a start.

.

When you come back into the livingroom you instantly freeze when you see what’s going on. Dirk is in there, as is Karkat, and Karkat is perched up on the arm of the couch, looking like he’s about to bolt. There’s an expression of panic on his face.

Dirk is casually sitting on the other end of the couch, his arm out, a sandwich in his hand, obviously offering it to the troll. As soon as he sees you he holds up his hand to stop you from entering the room any further, a gesture so identical to your own that it leaves little doubt that you’re somehow related. You have a huge urge to go to Karkat and wrap your arms around him to protect him, so you glare at your biological dad/brother/son for preventing you from doing so.

The three of you remain still - Karkat isn’t moving, neither are you. Dirk moves first, shifting forwards on the couch, his arm still outstretched. “Come on,” he says finally. “I know you’re probably hungry. You know me, I’m not going to hurt you,” it still gets you how Dirk speaks, with a slightly clipped accent that is nothing anywhere close to your relaxed drawl. He has this measured air about him of knowing exactly what he’s talking about all of the time, even when it’s 100% bullshit, so at least he shares that in common with the person you grew up with.

Karkat’s eyes dart from Dirk’s face to the sandwich and back again. Finally he looks at you. You shrug and hold your hands out wide in a ‘why you looking at me, bro?’ gesture. If he wants to take the sandwich he can, you’re not going to stop him. Karkat blinks slowly, then turns his focus back to Dirk.

Dirk then pulls a dick move and brings the sandwich to his face and takes a big bite out of it. He’s not hungry, you know ‘cause you just saw him eating, so obviously he’s doing it to provoke a reaction.

Karkat manages to look faintly surprised, then irritated, then drops his gaze. He’s not going to challenge Dirk.

Dirk knows he’s lost, you can tell by the way he heaves a sigh. He gets to his feet, walking over to you. He rips off the bit of sandwich where his mouth was and hands the rest to you. “Your turn,” he says, then walks back out of the room.

You’re hungry too, but that’s fine, you can feed yourself later. Instead you go over to Karkat and hold out the food. “Take it,” you say.

He hesitates only for a second before taking the remainder of the sandwich. It’s gone in two bites. You’re surprised.

“Right,” you say. “I’ll get you more food.”

 .

By the end of the night you’re just grateful that Karkat is still functional. He eats fine, uses the washroom fine, even curls up in your bed fine without you asking. You weren’t expecting to have to share a bed, but then you remember that you’re playing moirails right now, so of course he’s going to chose that at his place to sleep. You sigh and change and crawl into bed after him. If this was any other circumstance, and you do mean ANY, there is no way you’d sleep with Karkat. But desperate times call for desperate measures.

It also helps that he’s out like a light as soon as you get into bed with him. You wonder at that, that he feels safe enough around you to sleep, but you suppose if he’s going to trust anyone, you’re probably the best bet. You did spend quite a lot of time together during that last year on the meteor, and it’s not like you’ve never watched him sleep before. … in a totally not creepy way of course, he had a tendency to fall asleep when other people were around. You guess it made him feel safe.

You make a mental note to ask if he wants you to get him one of those… recupricoons? Whatever the hell those things are that most trolls sleep in on this plant because it reminds them of the fact that they’re bugs or some shit like that. You’re not sure if he’d like that, you think he got used to sleeping in a normal bed during your three year trip on the meteor, but it won’t hurt to ask.

.

**Dirk: Challenge your Bro’s traumatized friend to a spar**

.

The next day you’re put in charge of baby-sitting the traumatized troll while Dave is out meeting with the school regarding his exam results. Dave made sure to tell you to not to approach Karkat while he’s out, and to just leave him alone in his room.

You have absolutely no intention of listening to Dave. As far as you see it, the dude needs to heal, get better, and being coddled isn’t the way to go.

So you grab your swords and head to Dave’s room.

He’s curled up on the bed reading a book when you get there, but sits up the moment you enter. He puts the book down and wary eyes track you as you come towards him. You hold out one of your swords. “Take it,” you say.

He hisses at you. Actually hisses, and you get a great display of teeth that are suspiciously blunt for a troll.

You shrug and drop the sword on the bed, then take a step back yourself. “Don’t tell me you don’t intend to defend yourself,” you say. And with that you draw your weapon.  

He reacts before you can even swing the blade in his direction. One second he’s on the bed, the next he’s standing beside it, against the wall, sword in hand and looking terrified.

“Yeah,” you say. “That’s what I thought.”

You strike. The motion is controlled, you know what you’re doing, and you know you can pull back if he doesn’t react. He does though, his arm comes up almost instinctively and there is the satisfying sound of metal on metal. You meet his eyes. The terror is still in them, along with something else. You think it might be anger.

You take a step back, adjust your angle and try again. He parries that one as well. Now there is definitely anger on his face. He lets out a drawn out hiss that ends in a click, sounds that could possibly sort of resemble language. You also believe that there is a good possibility it’s supposed to sound threatening, warning you to back off before he tries to gut you.

You ignore that and swing again.

Yeah, he’s definitely angry. He’s growling now, stepping away from the wall as he comes towards you. You’re doing fantastic, you think, that you’ve gotten him on the offensive within three moves. Then he swings at you wildly and takes out Dave’s lamp in the process.

The clattering sound of it hitting the floor jars Karkat enough that he jumps back, right into Dave’s desk. Things fall off of that too, and Karkat whips around, and strikes blindly at the desk with his sword. The metal hits the wood with a thud. He yanks it out and raises his arms again…

Right, that’s enough of that. You bring your weapon up and take a well aimed swipe that knocks the sword out of his hands, disarming him quickly before he can try to split the desk in two. You catch his weapon in mid air and toss it you behind you. He lets out choked scream and lunges at you, and you have to drop your own sword quickly in order to catch him. You get him into a lock, his back pressed to your front and he’s surprisingly strong as he struggles against you. Blunted claws dig into your arm, but you don’t let him go. You do haul him over to the bed and hold him down against it, this time in such a way that he can’t bite or claw you.

You thought you’d get a continued struggle and for him to keep on freaking out. Instead he lets out this weird kind of creepy sound you haven’t heard before and goes limp and still.

Huh. That wasn’t the reaction you thought would happen. You stand there half hunched over the troll, then cautiously peak around to see his face. You instantly feel bad the moment you see him. Twin eyes glare at you and you can see they are leaking red tinted tears. “Ah shit dude,” you let him go instantly then just as quickly flip him over so he’s on his front. You grasp the sides of his face in your hands. “Sorry, didn’t mean to make you cry, just didn’t want you hurting yourself,” he still just glares at you, angry red tears falling for him eyes and you wipe them away with your thumbs. He lets you. After some time passes his eyes go from angry and upset to clear to giving you this oddly curious look, like he can’t figure out what you’re doing. It’s cute.

“Come here,” you say. You sit on the bed and haul him up so you’re holding him like you saw Dave hold him the day before.

He doesn’t react quite the same way as you would expect. Instead of curling up against you he kind of sits stiffly, then begins to twitch. When he starts to outright squirm you let him go. He crawls out of your arms but doesn’t go very far, instead he sits back on the bed beside you. You turn to look at him, one eyebrow raised and pause at what you see.

He’s blushing. And glaring at you, but mostly blushing. When his eyes meet yours he looks away again, and you’ve seen those kinds of expressions on faces before. You have only been living among humans and trolls for about a year but even before that you considered yourself somewhat knowledgeable when it came to reading people.

Well then.  You raise an eyebrow at him, then reach out, _slowly_ , because like hell you want him panicking again, and touch one of his prettily flushed cheeks. “I’m guessing this has something to do with me giving you that hug just now.”

He looks down.

At least the poor guy can tell the difference between when someone is trying to help him and when someone is trying to hurt him, even if you did just manage to send him the wrong signals. You keep going. “But Dave can give you hugs and that’s not weird or strange or anything?”

He shakes his head slowly.

“Because he’s your moirail, right?”

Karkat shrugs. He still won’t look at you, so you run a finger under his chin and tilt his head up. When he finally meets your eyes you give him a knowing look over the top of your shades.

His blush explodes into full faced redness. You allow yourself a slight smirk before letting go of his chin getting to your feet. You lean down and pick up both swords, being sure to hold them pointing down so that they in no way will look threatening.

“Come on,” you say. “We’re going to the roof.”

He stares at you again, blush disappearing, the expression on his face going back to its regular wariness.

. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Karkat POV

.

Most of your time in captivity passed in a blur. You were humiliated at first, then in agony for most of the rest. Within a couple days your thought processes became reduced to one basic line - humans equaled pain and because of that they were to be avoided at all costs.

Of course avoiding humans was impossible while trapped in a small room, so you became very good at doing whatever they said in order to survive and experience less pain in the end.

Speaking was a huge issue. They didn’t want you to speak, ever, to them you were far less than human and anything that reminded them that you may be a thinking feeling intelligent being was to be eliminated. You held on, or tried to, you really did, but when they started to cut into you, your brain went into survival mode. You still can’t speak without feeling the urge to panic, curl up in a ball in the corner and sob. You thought being around Dave would help, and even though he’s made you feel more normal than you have since this entire thing began, you still can’t _talk_. All you can do is force him to cuddle you like you’re a weak wiggler who is unable to take care of yourself. You freely admit you’re one of the most pathetic trolls in existence.

You slam your fist into the side of the shower wall and then wince and swear at yourself mentally. Dave’s not home right now, and Dirk sent you into the shower to get cleaned up, and even though he appears to not give a shit what you do, you still should curve your urge to wreck things. You sigh and tilt your head back against the water stream and shake out your hand.

You don’t know how to handle Dirk. During your farce of a spar on the rooftop you wigged out three times, completely lost your shit, which lead to him holding you or pinning you down in some way, shape, or form. You’ve got dirt on your face and scrapes on your arms (nothing like the scars that are already there from being deliberately cut open) and each time he touched you he made your insides shiver. You don’t know what the hell is wrong with you, except for the fact that you’ve been aching since your nook was stuffed over and over again with no way to actually get off because you were too terrified to actually feel anything.

Which brings you to your current problem.  You run your hands over the newly healed scars on your arms, across your abdomen and down between your legs. Your nook has healed, it clenches at your fingers gently as you push them in. If your fingers were a bulge it would be pulling it in deeper. They’re not a bulge however, and you can’t get them far enough up to push against anything that would trigger a release. You sigh and remove them again, and move the shower curtain aside enough to glance about the bathroom. You actually honestly consider the stick end of the toilet plunger for a moment, then decide against it because you can’t think of anything less arousing and you’d probably just end up triggering more genetic material with no way to get out.

You wonder how Dirk would react if you went and threw yourself at him. Yeah, like that wouldn’t be as creepy as fuck. ‘Please, Dave’s genetic relative, please stick something up my nook and get me off.’

No. No no no, you’re not even going to think about that.

You make a face at yourself and finish cleaning yourself. When you get out, you realize you have nothing to wear besides your now very grimy clothes. You sigh and loop a bath towel around your hips and pad out of the bathroom. Maybe Dirk will have something you can wear. You wonder how you could ask without having to speak, then realize he’ll probably get it just by seeing you in a towel. Or he’ll want to take the towel off. You clench the towel a little tighter and try to ignore how that makes your stomach twist into knots. 

You hear voices as you make your way down the hall and frown. You guess that means Dave is home.

Sure enough both boys are standing in the kitchen when you get there, and they’re glaring at each other. It’s obvious that you’ve interrupted a disagreement and by the way they both fall silent the moment you enter, it’s not hard to guess they were arguing about you. Dave turns and looks you up and down and you can tell he’s worried, you’ve gotten really good at reading that poker face over the years.  Belatedly you realize he can see each and every scar newly etched onto your body. Shit.

On the other hand Dirk doesn’t seem to give a shit how beat up you look. He folds his arms across his chest.  “You’re worrying for nothing,” he says to Dave. “He’s fine.”

Dave makes a hand motion to you. “How can you possibly say that he’s fine?” he demands to know.

Dirk shrugs. “He’s fine as in I didn’t give him any of those marks,” he points out. “Look,” he comes over to you and puts a casual arm around your shoulder. You tense up, your instincts momentarily yelling at you to get away from him as quickly as possible before much more recent instincts tell you that Dirk is definitely not a threat to you, in fact you welcome his touch. You relax after a moment and give him a tentative smile.

“See?” Dirk says. “We’re cool.”

Dave looks skeptical. “Karkat…” he begins. Now he looks like he needs to be reassured.

You can’t help it. You push away from Dirk and go to Dave and do what comes naturally to you, you wrap your arms around him. Instantly all of the distress and tension fades back in your head to be replaced with a contented buzz. Yeah, Dave might not think he’s your moirail, but your brain doesn’t know any difference, it’s too messed up to care. Dave equals safe.

Just like how Dirk now equals safe and a potential partner. You look at him from out of the corner of your eye, only to see the side of his mouth tick down into a frown. Oh, your back. You forgot about your back. You hold onto Dave a bit tighter.

“Who did that to him anyway?” Dirk asks.

Dave shrugs and sighs, finally relaxing himself. A hand presses into your hair, combing through the damp strands. “I don’t know,” he says. There is a world of frustration in his voice. “They wouldn’t say.”

“Huh,” Dirk replies and that tiny bit of a frown grows. After a moment he turns and leaves the room.

“And don’t even think of doing anything that will get us into trouble, dude,” Dave calls after him. “I’ll have you know I’m an upstanding citizen and I intend to stay that way.”

“You’re neurotic and I don’t even know how I could possibly be genetically related to you,” is Dirk’s reply from out of the room.

“Oh haha,” Dave returns. He sighs again, this time sounding frustrated, then turns his attention back to you. “Come on,” he says. “Let’s get you some clothes.”

.

**Dave: Be a good moirail**

.

The first thing you notice when you get home is the shower is running, you can hear it from the door. The second thing you notice is Dirk is in the kitchen grabbing something to eat. He’s always eating, but you shouldn’t complain too much, you are always eating as well. Growing boys and all that.

That means that Karkat is the one in the shower.

A bit strange seeing as he had been utterly unwilling to move from your bed earlier this morning before you left. You finally scrounged around and found a couple books for him to read because you felt bad.

The moment you open the door to your room you know something is off. It’s messier than it was before. Your lamp is on the floor. So is your computer keyboard, a stack of your homework papers… there’s a gouge in your desk that wasn’t there before that looks like it was created with a…

Holy _shit_.

You leave your room and go back to the kitchen.

“Mind telling me what happened in my room?” you ask Dirk evenly.

Dirk is in the middle of drinking from a glass. He makes sure to finish before tossing the glass into the sink. “Yeah, I thought he needed to loosen up a bit,” he replies.

“Loosen up… so you, what? Put a sword in his hand? Dude he’s petrified of you, how could you even think that’s a good idea.”

Dirk looks a bit smug. “It was a great idea. You have no idea what a great idea it was. We got a real work out going.”

“You’re concerned about your work out?” you reply incredulously. “He’s been through hell and you wanted to work out?” Dirk gives you this look like he can’t figure out why you’re flipping your shit when Karkat chooses that moment to walk into the kitchen.

You turn to look at him and pause. You hadn’t realized quite what bad shape he was in before now. He has quite a few dark grey barely healed scars on his arms and a couple across his chest. That must have been what the video would have showed you if you kept watching it and the thought makes you feel sick all over again.

Dirk tells you not to worry and you watch as he goes over and puts his arm around Karkat. Karkat does tense briefly, but then gives Dirk a small smile. Dirk is right, he isn’t reacting nearly the same way as he was yesterday. Even so Karkat puts up with that for only a few seconds before he retreats… right into your reluctant arms.

You’re still a moirail you suppose. Dirk leaves the room and you go back to guardian duty. You shuffle him back to your room to get him something to wear.

.

It just gets weirder from there. Dirk offers to cook dinner, and proceeds to make steak of all things. You all sit around the table like a happy family, Karkat is decked out in your clothes, and Dirk actually sets the fucking table. You’re already deeply suspicious because of that, which grows as Dirk presents the troll with food and Karkat…

Blushes. Actually blushes and quietly accepts the plate. It’s so much different than the day before when Karkat was actually perched on the arm of the couch in attempts to get as far away from Dirk as possible it makes your head spin.

Not only that during dinner you see that Dirk is taking every opportunity to keep his eye on Karkat. He’s watching him eat with deliberate interest. Karkat notices when he glances up a couple times and all it does is make him blush more.

Later on you watch Dirk actually reach out and runs his fingertips down the side of Karkat’s arm. Karkat squirms, but doesn’t jerk away. He glances up at Dirk and Dirk raises an eybrow at him, which just makes Karkat look down at his food again. He doesn’t seem upset or weirded out at all, just shy.

Your jaw drops. What. The. Fuck. Are you seeing here?

You know Dirk likes dudes, you know that because you grew up with Bro and they’re pretty much the same person. Bro’d only bring guy friends over to visit when you were a kid, it was kind of obvious when you got older why his guy friends were staying the night in his room. You also know that trolls don’t care about gender, Karkat explained that one to you often enough. But seriously, why the hell is Dirk hitting on Karkat in the condition he’s in?

.

Karkat looks exhausted after dinner and about to fall asleep, which makes sense seeing as Dirk made him spar that day. You half carry him back to your room and put him into bed. He’s unconscious before you can even pull a blanket over him, let alone say anything to him about Dirk’s behavior.

.

You let it pass for the night, staying up way later than you usually do mixing audio on your computer. It’s nearly four am when you log off finally and crawl into bed next to Karkat. He wakes up again with a jerk, and gives you a wide eyed frightened look.

You reach out and pat his head soothingly. That just leads to him shifting so he’s closer to you before his eyes droop closed again. He’s asleep again within seconds, the expression on his face smoothing out and becoming peaceful. You find yourself smiling slightly as you watch him sleep.

Shit. You could possibly get used to this.

.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dave POV

.

It’s less than three hours after you’ve gone to bed when you hear a knock at your bedroom door. It wakes you both up, and you roll over enough to see the time, then groan out loud.

“Fuck off,” you tell the door.

Apparently “fuck off” means “come in”. Dirk opens your door and stands there, one hip against the door frame. He’s holding a sword slung over his shoulder. Karkat sits up all the way and looks at your brother silently.

“Can Karkat come out to play?” Dirk asks.

You don’t even have to look at him to know he’s got a self satisfied expression on his face. “Dude it’s 6:30 in the fucking morning,” you say. Maybe your Bro could get away with shit like dragging you out of bed at all hours of the night to practice but you’re the same age as him now and you have stuff like school to do during the day.

You also don’t have to look up to know that Dirk just shrugged at that. “So? You don’t have to come,” he says. “Karkat?”

You crack an eye open to look at Karkat. He looks from Dirk to you and back again. After a moment he reaches out and pats you on the cheek before sliding around you and out of bed.

What?

Alright, fine, whatever. You shut your eyes again and pull the blanket up over your head. You keep it there until both of them have left your room.

.

You get up a couple hours later. You kind of miss when you could sleep whenever you wanted while you were on the meteor, but school is a thing, and you’re not smart enough to have audited most of your classes away like Dirk did. You grumble and shuffle about your room before getting dressed and making your way to the kitchen for some food.

You stop cold in the hall. From here you have a view straight into the foyer where Dirk and Karkat have obviously just got back sparring. Dirk has Karkat up against the wall and it looks like you just interrupted the beginning or the end of an interspecies make-out.

You clear your throat.

They both freeze. Karkat gives you a wide eyed frightened look before ducking his head and taking off his shoes.

You stare at Dirk. Karkat finishes taking his shoes off and practically tiptoes around you both as he retreats into the bathroom. The door shuts and a couple seconds later you hear the water running.

“What the hell was that all about?” you ask Dirk very deliberately as soon as Karkat is out of earshot.

“Was what all about,” he replies. He sounds bored as he goes about taking off his own shoes.

“You know what,” you reply.

“No, I don’t,” there is a chill to his voice, something that would warn you to back off in the past. You don’t.

“Your touching him and teasing him and shit,” you elaborate, you teeth clenched as you walk towards him. “You had him backed up against a god damned wall.”

Dirk gives you a half shrug. “He wasn’t complaining,” he says.

You just look at him.

“I don’t think this is nearly as big of a deal as you are making it out to be,” he continues. He straightens and his face is completely blank.

“Do you have any idea what he’s been through?”

Dirk raises an eyebrow. “I can guess,” he replies.

“Stop it,” you say. “Just stop. Leave him alone.”

He shakes his head slowly. “Nope.”

Your jaw twitches. You’re this close to punching him in the face.  Your voice drops to low hiss. “He’s been _raped_ asshole, he doesn’t need your dick up there to remind him of that!”

You can tell you’ve gone too far because the look Dirk gives you is the exact same look your Bro used to give you when you did or said something that went over the line.

“Do you really think cutting him off from anything that _might_ scare him is doing him any favors?” he asks. His voice is cold.

You glare at him. You’re not backing down on this one, you’re not.

You’re at an impasse. It doesn’t seem like either one of you are going to give and you’re both going to end up back on the roof that Dirk just came from beating the shit out of each other when Dirk’s face softens just a tiny bit. He lets out a small sigh and reaches out, clasping you on the shoulder with a very firm grip. “He’s not human, he doesn’t think the same way as a human would,” his jaw flexes. “He’s way stronger than you think. And it’s _not_ upsetting him, if it was, I’d stop.”

“Dude,” you grit out, shrugging off his hand. “He might not be human but he’s still not _speaking_. You have no idea how much that guy used to be able to talk, it was like all yelling and bullshit all the time,” Dirk should know this, he did meet Karkat after the game. Maybe he forgot, but you haven’t.  

Dirk seems to consider that for a moment, then shakes his head and leans down to pick up his swords. “And if he wants to speak again, he will.”

The conversation is over and you have a feeling Dirk just won. You let out a huff of frustration as he pushes by you and leaves the room.

God, you just hope that Karkat is going to be okay and you’re not the biggest failure at being a guardian of all time. You can just imagine trying to explain this… to, well, anyone really.

.

Dirk stays in his room for most of the rest of the day. You can hear noises coming from there, the sounds of metal clanking together, the guy has an impressive robot collection going on. You’re not sure if any of them actually work. He’s often complaining that the technology on this planet isn’t nearly as awesome as it was back when it was all water and no one was alive anymore.  

Karkat comes to your room wearing a towel once he’s done his shower. You’re in the middle of trying to write a paper and failing that miserably. He stands by the door and shifts about uncomfortably, his gaze trained on the floor.

You get up and silently get him clothes. When he’s done dressing he continues to stand there, looking lost. He also still won’t look at you.

Once again you feel like he’s acting like a dog that expects to be reprimanded or hit. You heave a sigh and go to him and wrap him up in your arms.

He slumps against you with relief and hugs you back tightly.

.

Dinner is quiet, and Dirk doesn’t eat with you. After dinner Karkat gathers up a bunch of food onto a plate and goes and knocks on Dirk’s door. Dirk replies with a very succinct “Go away, I’m busy.”

Karkat merely rolls his eyes and knocks again.

This time Dirk opens the door. He sees Karkat and the expression on his face relaxes and he takes the plate. “Thanks dude,” he says and ruffles Karkat’s hair in between the horns. Karkat leans into the touch a little.

You swallow the remains of your pride and go back into your room.

.

Karkat joins you a couple minutes later, crawling onto your bed and curling up with the human romance novel he has been reading. You spare him a glance out of the corner of your eye. “Dirk likes you,” you say, which is stating the obvious.

Karkat puts down the book and blushes, then nods.

“You don’t mind at all do you,” you say, again with the obvious.

Karkat shakes his head no.

“Even after everything you’ve been through.”

He gives you a bit of a helpless shrug.

“Alright,” you say, running a hand through your hair. “Alright, I can handle this. Look. If you need anything or if at any point he’s bugging you or doing something you don’t want, just come and tell me. Or… come and look at me I guess and I’ll figure it out,” you frown at him. “Are you ever going to start talking again?”

He gives you this long look and opens his mouth to reply. Something happens to him then, it’s almost like he stops being able to move and then he begins to choke. You watch as he curls in on himself, shaking.

“Shit,” you get up off your desk chair and go to him, wrapping your arms around him yet again. You hold him until he stops shaking, patting him on the head reassuringly.

Yet again you curse the bastards who did this to him.

.

He calms down quickly enough and you’re able to let him go to get back to your homework. Later that evening you decide to take a shower. When you get back to your room it’s empty. You momentarily panic, until you see a piece of paper on your desk.

You pick it up. All it says is “I’M OKAY DON’T FREAK OUT” in block letters. The writing is shaky but clear.

Your jaw clenches. You go back out to the hall and it’s then that you realize you can hear the sound of Dirk speaking in this bedroom, and the low sound of his chuckle as he laughs. There is a gap in conversation and you hear the sound of rustling, and after a pause a soft moan.

You take a horrified step back from the door. And then another. You can’t get back to your room and put on headphones fast enough. Once you do that you sink your head into your hands.

.

GA: I Do Not Believe There Is Anything Wrong With Him

TG: so its perfectly normal for a troll to want to fuck your bro  
TG: hes too traumatized to even speak but hey sex is okay

GA: I Do Not Know Your Bro Well Enough To Say  
GA: But If Karkat Says He Is Okay Then He Is  
GA: He Will Still Require Your Services As A Moirail

TG: i dont think i can do it  
TG: you have no idea how all sorts of weird this is  
TG: if hes fucking my bro he shouldnt be cuddling with me  
  
GA: That Is Not How Quadrants Work

TG: dont get me started on quadrants   
TG: how do they even work im a human  
TG: do you know of any troll who can come be karkats moirail

GA: No  
GA: You Are Doing A Very Good Job

.

Your conversation with Kanaya ends up being a complete dead end. She assures you a couple of times that you’re doing excellent work being a moirail and ignores your claims that you don’t actually want to be a one. She also still doesn’t understand why you’re upset about the fact that Karkat is probably in the process of getting his nook stuffed by your bro.

God damned trolls.  

You swallow and get up to grab something to eat and the noises you unwilling hear from Dirk’s room give you little doubt on the matter.

Fuck.

Literally.

Fuck your life.

.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dirk POV
> 
> Also warning (I guess?) for sexual content and troll anatomy.

.

You actually wouldn’t have let it get this far if this were under normal circumstances. You like your courtships to be drawn out, planned out in detail and with every variable considered and carefully weighed. That’s just the way you are.

But during emergency situations provisions have to be made.

You notice there is something wrong with the troll during your first spar on the roof. There is a certain way to how he holds himself when he twists, or when he goes down, that makes you think he’s injured. The injury is in a rather specific location as well, you can tell by the way his hand flutters to his lower abdomen before coming back up again. It doesn’t disable him, he can still fight, and he doesn’t look like he’s constantly in pain either, which is good.

He’s also very interested in you. You test that a lot of course, to be sure, little touches here and there. He’s as responsive as hell.

You decide to do some research.

You’ve already done a bit of research on trolls, when you tried to look up who the hell would try to mutilate your new little bro. His back is a mess, scarred where it looks like someone hit him over and over again with something sharp enough to tear at skin. He obviously survived his ordeal intact but that kind of beating deserves comeuppance.

Only thing is you can’t hack into police records, that’s a little bit high level for you, so all you can really do is guess that some sort of human superiority group got their hands on him. You won’t know for sure unless you get someone to hack into the databases for you.

Luckily you know a few hackers. You make a mental note to contact one of them during the next couple days.

Since he’s interested in you, you switch your research to troll sexuality. You’ve had a couple trolls come on to you since this world was created, and you’ve found that they’re usually pretty forward and in your face about it, but you never took one of them home before. Having sex with a troll would be a new thing for you if you let Karkat into your pants.

You wade through articles on infidelity, and all the inherent problems with two species with two very different views on sex and relationships. That stuff is dull and not what you’re looking for.

You dig deeper and finally get to the good shit. First, things you already know, like that they all have both parts, even though they have physically have two distinct genders. Nooks and bulges, they have all that, and most importantly the nooks are compatible with human dicks.  The article you read warns that a troll might have trouble taking in a human cock for the first time, only because their nook tapers at the top, but that enough stimulation and they will be able to fit most dicks fine. That’s good to know.

You keep going. You finally come upon an article that explains that a troll will usually have to have partner in order to get off, apparently the genetic fluid has to be released with another troll so that the combined slurry can be taken to their mother grub to make more trolls and blah blah troll reproduction. The article is written for humans, so it further explains that it is possible for a human partner to get a troll off of the troll is aroused enough. If they’re not, the article cautions, they’ll get backed up - sex will stimulate the glands and cause genetic fluid to be created but they will have no way to release that fluid. A couple more clicks tells you that fluid release involves the bulge, which will stiffen before release occurs.

If the troll’s bulge doesn’t even emerge at all during sex, you’re apparently doing it wrong. The last couple pages explain how developments in troll medical treatments have ways to siphon out the excess fluid if a proper partner can’t be found.

You think you can piece together what happened to Karkat now. The thought leaves you feeling a bit sick to your stomach, but you brush the feeling away. He’s doing well, he fights back, and like hell you’re going to treat him like he’s sick or injured. He just… needs a bit of help is all.

And you’re perfectly willing to be that help. Well, since the other option is dragging him off to a hospital and getting someone to stick things into him.

Yeah, considering your choices, you think you’re gonna let the troll come to you if he wants you.

You do know that Dave is going to flip his shit over this one.

.

Dave flips his shit a little bit sooner than expected. You have another invigorating spar on the rooftop, Karkat has come leaps and bounds in just a day, and by the time you both get back inside the apartment you’re half hanging onto each other for support. You’re not quite sure if you push him or he pulls you but one moment you’re shoving the door closed again with your foot, the next you have him up against the wall, your lips pressed to his.

He lets out a little chirp groan and suddenly he is kissing back enthusiastically, hands knotting in your shirt to pull you in closer. His hips roll forwards towards yours in a pretty obvious invitation and it’s your turn to groan now. You trail hands down his back to his ass, picking him up and bringing him up against you again. He starts whimpering and nips at you – first at your lips and then your jaw.

You realize quickly that the foyer is not the best place to be doing this. You let him go reluctantly… “not here,” you tell him. He makes a noise of protest and kisses you a couple more times before he lets you go as well. You step back, just in time to hear someone clear their throat in the hall and you freeze.

Karkat goes still as well, then quickly goes about taking off his shoes. He retreats to the bathroom, leaving you alone with Dave.

.

The conversation goes about as well as you expected it to. Dave confirms what you already knew – he was sexually assaulted – and he doesn’t want you anywhere near him. You shut down the discussion as quickly as you can and retreat to your room.

You don’t want to admit it to anyone but you’re pissed, and the way you handle being pissed off is to ignore everyone and get shit done. Its days like today that you wish you still had AR.

Several hours later Karkat brings you dinner, which lightens your mood a bit.

About an hour after that Karkat brings himself. He doesn’t even knock, just opens the door and slips inside and stands there with his back pressed to it as he stares at you.

You straighten from the robot you’re currently hunched over. You pick up a cloth and wipe your fingers of oil very deliberately, before dropping it neatly over the open rib cage of your newest monstrosity.

“Yeah?” you ask, feigning disinterest.

He licks his lips and makes a whimpering sound. That cute blush is back on his face in full force.

You raise a very deliberate eyebrow at him and push at his boundaries like you have been since he got here. You hold your hands wide. “If you want something, you’re going to have to come and get it.”

He glares at you and lets out a little cut off growl. You turn back to your robot. He hesitates for only a moment more, then crosses the room towards you with quick purposeful strides.

He grabs your shirt and hauls you down for a kiss.

.

It takes exactly no time at all before you pretty much hand the reins over to Karkat. His eagerness makes you chuckle, he’s all over you, arms threading around your neck, trying to rub against you awkwardly while standing. You finally manage to maneuver you both over to the bed, making sure you fall back instead of forwards in order to leave him on top and in charge. He can rub against you easier now and you’re sure starting to show interest. You let out a soft moan as he starts to lick and bite gently at your throat.

After a while he just gives up on the rubbing, grabs one of your hands and sticks it between his legs.

“Okay, okay, I get it dude,” you say with another laugh and pause. Something is wriggling against your hand THROUGH his pants.

Well, that’s a thing. You that whatever deity might exist out there in this brand new universe that you did your research before now. You run your finger along the top of pants that formerly belonged to Dave. When he pants and moans softly you move your hand inside.

Instantly something curls around your hand. You pause to get the feel of it. It’s slick but not gross, and warmer than you thought it would be. You squeeze, just a bit, and are rewarded with vibrant groan that seems to end in an almost purr.

You tug on his waistband with your other hands. “I want you out of your clothes, that okay?” you ask.

He responds by pulling at your shirt.

You kiss him again before removing your hand and pushing him back gently so that he’s off of you. You strip your shirt first and then work on your pants. He watches avidly as you undress. For a brief moment you pause and worry what he’s going to think of your dick, but he looks rather eager. You mentally shrug and strip off your boxers as well.

You settle back on the bed and wait. He gives you a blank look then gets it, and starts to pull off his own shirt. He hesitates briefly when he’s done pulling it off and you watch as he runs a hand over one of the more prominent scars on his arms.

You sit up and shuffle forwards, then lean down and press your lips to the scar. He freezes and goes absolutely still. When you look up at his face you can see he’s giving you a look like you’re insane.

Right. Uh, okay, reassurance isn’t what he’s looking for then. You pat his arm and sit back on your heels again and gesture for him to continue. He blinks then gets back into it, going about stripping off his pants. Now you can see him, his tentacle (for lack of a better word) is out. It’s a dull red color against his skin and glistening as it lazily waves back and forth. You reach out, but instead of touching it you run a hand gently over the curve of his abdomen right above it. The skin is taut over what you guess would be his build up of genetic fluid.

You watch his face as you press down very gently. He lets out a small cry and his face scrunches up in discomfort. His tentacle bulge retreats somewhat. You remove your hand right away and drop it down to his bulge. You stroke it a couple times almost apologetically. It comes back out all the way, weaving around your fingers, almost like it’s trying to find a place to grip. He makes another sound and this time it is much more appreciative.

You drop your other hand to your own dick and fist it, jerking it a couple times. “Want to show me your nook?” you ask.

He flushes at that. He does what you ask though, sits back on his heels and runs a hand over his bulge and then under it, right between his legs.

Now nook type apparatuses on human females categorically isn’t your thing, but you’re not about to start complaining as you watch him sink fingers into himself. He draws those fingers in and out a couple times, finger fucking himself in front of you.

You are reluctant to interrupt him. “Come here,” you offer finally.

He looks up, then pulls his fingers out and climbs over to you. You lay back and settle him down on top of you. You know this will be an awkward position for a first time at it, but you also know this will be the best way for him to remain in control. After a couple tries you both manage to line up and he sinks down on you.

His mouth falls open and he gasps softly. He presses his hands against your chest as you put your own hands on his hips, encouraging him to lift up and then down again. He gets the hang of it quickly and within moments he’s riding you, bottom lip clenched between his teeth and eyes screwed shut.

It feels pretty damn good from where you’re sitting/laying as well.  You try to rise up to meet him a couple times but basically let him do what he wants. After a bit you reach out and try to fist his bulge but it thrashes out of your grip, so you run your hands up and down his sides instead.

He’s making little tortured gasping sounds now, his brow knit. Sweat is beginning to bead on his face but he doesn’t stop for several minutes, showing much more stamina than you expected for someone recovering. When he does stop it is sudden and complete as he pulls off of you. You eyes are half lidded by now, you’re fairly close to getting off yourself, and you gasp up at him. “What is it?” you ask.

He shakes his head wildly.

“I can’t understand you, you have to tell me,” you return. You’re not trying to be a prick, he looks desperate and you need to know what he wants. This entire not speaking thing is not the most ideal when it comes to alien/human sex.

He shakes his head again and touches his bulge. You get it then, his tentacle is stiff and thicker than it was before, and only the tip of it is twitching now.

Okay, time to solve that problem. You roll slightly, bringing him up with you so that he’s straddling your lap and glance over the side of your bed. There is an oil pan fairly close by. “There,” you say, pointing to it.

He nods and climbs off of you. Within seconds he’s hopped to the floor and suddenly you have a front and center ticket to watching a troll cum almost literal buckets.

He slumps to the ground beside the oil pan once he’s done filling it with odd red tinted jizz, heedless of the robot bits around him, panting softly.

You fist your own dick as you watch his breathing slow down. “Are you feeling better?”you ask him.

He blinks at you. Slowly at first like he can’t figure out what you just said, then with comprehension. His mouth opens, but he doesn’t speak. Instead he shuts his mouth again and nods. He looks relieved.

You crook a finger at him, making a hand motion for him to join you on the bed again.

He holds up a hand for you to wait. You shrug and do so, curious as to what he intends to do now. You’re a bit surprised when he gets to his feet on shaky legs, smiles at you and walks right back over to the bed.

Oh.

He lifts a leg over your torso and straddles you again. You kiss, open mouthed and after a bit you roll him onto his back. You pause then, positioned above him and raise an eyebrow. “Is this okay?” you ask.

He smirks at you and rolls his hips up to meet yours.

.

**Dave: Deal with it**

.

It’s somewhere around two am when Karkat appears at your bedroom doorway. He just kind of stands there staring at you.

“Karkat?” you ask. You sit up and turn on the lamp.

He bites his lip and rubs his arm absently.

You can tell from there what he wants, it isn’t hard to figure out. “Aw man, no please…” you groan. “Look, I get it, you need a moirail. But I just can’t cuddle you after you’ve done shit with my bro, it’s just not…” you draw a deep breath as you realize he’s frozen in place and trembling slightly. You can’t even parse the words together anymore and… he’s shaking.

You let out a low groan and lay back down on the bed. You’re definitely going to have to hash this shit out with Dirk tomorrow. But for now…

“Alright, come here,” you grind out.

Karkat’s jaw sets. “It’s alright,” his voice is raspy from disuse and there is a world of bitterness there. “Don’t strain yourself too hard, Dave.”

You sit up in bed, more shocked than anything. He still looks defensive, jaw set, glaring at you, still shaking like a leaf, but he _spoke_ , and that’s a vast improvement over anything.

“Get over here, Vantas,” you order, and point to the bed beside you.

He hesitates for a very long moment, still glaring, then lowers his gaze and comes over. He crawls up on the bed and curls against you. You put your arms around him.

He wiggles in closer, bringing his arms up to hold you tightly. He’s still shaking a bit. “I needed that,” he says finally, voice vibrating through your shirt. You frown but you don’t let him go.

“Okay,” you say.

“You don’t understand,” he sounds resigned.

“No,” you reply.  “I don’t.”

He’s quiet again. After a while you shift back so you’re lying on the bed with him half pulled onto your chest.

“Please just tell me you’re not in a hateromance,” you say.

He jerks his head up and just looks at you like you’re an idiot for a moment, then starts to chuckle. “We might not even be in a matespritship,” he replies. He seems to be getting more used to speaking the more he does it. “I know how humans work, Dave, you’re in for one night and then you’re out again, what is even commitment with you people.”

You’re just so fucking glad to hear his voice that you laugh as well. You honestly don’t know what type of person Dirk is, he used to disappear for nights at a time when you first got here, using the money he was given by the game to go out on the town. If he dated anyone he never brought them back here.

You absently run fingers up and down Karkat’s back.

“Remember when you wouldn’t even touch me for scientific reasons?” he asks.

“Yeah,” you reply. “You’ve pretty much destroyed every single personal space issue I ever had. And then some.”

He chuckles again and shifts, but doesn’t get off of you, and you don’t let him go.

.


End file.
